Leather printing and tipping machine



Oct- .2 1936. P. DORNBUSCH LEATHER PRINTING AND TIPPING MACHINE Filed June 29, 1935 2 Shets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR v f w, Dvwsuscu ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 20, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFicE LEATHER PRINTING AND TIPPING MACHINE 9 Claims.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in methods and devices for printing and tipping whole hides.

More particularly, the invention proposes a method characterized by continuously passing a web of. paper, or other similar carrier material, between a printing drum and a printing cylinder, and feeding or supporting whole hides on said web to pass between the printing drum and the printing cylinder so as to be printed.

A feature of the invention resides in the fact that the continuously passing Web normally protects the printing drum from the printing cylinder at areas between or to the sides of the hides.

A further object of theinvention is to tension the Whole hides as they are passed between the printing drum and the printing cylinder so as to hold them smooth during the printing operation.

Still further, the invention contemplates the construction of a device or machine which is adapted to print whole hides and which is also capable of applying secondary colors upon the hides. In all old methods and devices for printing whole hides it has been customary .to apply secondary colors by hand.

Still further, the invention also proposes the construction of a controlled ink supply device which has a doctor blade engaging across the printing cylinder and arranged to substantially form one side of a pan for holding and directing the ink on the printing cylinder. Furthermore, an arrangement is proposed for oscillating said doctor blade to more evenly distribute the ink, and to maintain the straight edge of the doctor blade by more even wear thereof.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a machine as mentioned which is character ized by a frame, a printing drum mounted on the frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on the frame and adapted to cooperate with the printing drum to print hides passed there-between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder, and a hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing drum and printing cylinder, and adapted to protect the printing drum from ink when a hide passes out from between the printing drum and printing cylinder.

A feature of the machine is that the printing cylinder may be of various types, such as the surface printing type, or of the intaglio type. It may bephoto engraved, milled, or may be master die. The printing cylinder may be adapted to apply secondary colors on raised portions of the hide (tipping). It may be a screen cylinder.

Another object of the invention is the construction of a device as described which is simple and durable and which may be manufactured and sold at a reasonable cost.

For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects and advantages thereof, reference will be had to the following description and. accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which the various novel features are more particularly set forth.

In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of this disclosure:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a device constructed according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is an end elevational view of Fig. 1 looking from the right hand end.

Fig.3 is a front elevational view of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary perspective View of a portion of the adjusting screw which controls the pressure of the doctor blade.

Fig. is a fragmentary sectional View taken on the line 5+5 of Fig. 2. v

The leather printing and. tipping machine, according to this invention, comprises a frame consisting of side portions lfla and lOb held in fixed spaced positions by several tie rods I00. A printing drum II is mounted in bearings l2 on side portions of the frame members Illa and lllb. The arrangement is such that reduced ends of thedrum ll merely rest upon the bearings l2, which are semicylindrical, so that the drum may be lifted out of the machine when desired. The printing drum II is held against normal displacement by a printing cylinder l3 which has reduced ends supported in bearings l4 located vertically above the bearings l2. The bearings [4 are adjustably mounted on the side members Illa and Nib of the frame and. areheld in adjusted positions by several vertical screws l5 which thread'edly engage through the upper ends of the side members Illa and lb of the frame. The free ends of the screws [5 are provided with handles a by which they may be easily turned. The lower ends of the screws rotatively connect with the housings of the bearings l4 so that when the screws are rotated the bearings l 4 move vertically upwards or down- Wards.

The base ends M of the housings of the bearings engage in vertical grooves ID of the frame to firmly guide the bearings in their movements to the various adjusted positions. The screws l5 also serve as a means for controlling the space between the printing cylinder and the printing drum. Furthermore, they provide for the control of the pressure between these parts,

or elements and materials passed through these parts, during the operation of the machine.

The printing cylinder I3 is engraved, or in any other manner formed with a printing design or pattern. A controlled ink supply is associated with the printing cylinder I3 and comprises, essentially, a doctor blade l6 mounted upon a fiat body I! which is extended at an angle to one side of the printing cylinder to produce a space above it and a portion of the cylinder, in which the ink may be placed. The ends of this space are closed by end pieces H3. The edge of the doctor blade l6 which engages against the printing cylinder is very sharp and straight so that there is a fine supply of ink. A means is provided for holding the doctor blade IS in various positions and comprises several adjusting screws I9 rotatively connected with the doctor blade and threadedly engaged through bushings 20 upon the fiat body These screws are provided with handles 2| by which they may be conveniently turned. At the ends, the flat body I! is formed with lugs 22 upon which the end pieces I 8 are attached by screws 23. The

end pieces l8 have arcuate shaped portions of felt material or similar material (indicated by reference numerals 24) engaging against the side of extension portions of the printing cylinder.

The flat body I! is swivelly and adjustably held so that the edge of the doctor blade may be engaged against the side of the printing cylinder under suitable pressure. More particularly, the flat body I! has offset bosses 25 at its ends from which the offset studs 26a project. The studs 26a connect with returning portions 21b on which there is a trunnion 26. This trunnion engages in bearings 210 which are adjustably mounted upon the side members Illa and |0b of the frame. Arms 21 are attached fixedly on the blocks 21b and extend over the printing cylinder. The latter ends of the arms 21 are of fork shape (see Fig. 4) and support bushings 28. These bushings are pivotally supported by a trunnion 29 engaging the arms of the fork. An adjustment screw 30 threadedly engages through each bushing. Handles 3| are mounted upon the top ends of the adjustment screws by which they may be turned. Blocks 32 are rotatively mounted upon the bottom ends of the screws and have bottom faces which are in intimate contact with reduced ends |3a of the printing cylinder.

A mechanism is provided for oscillating the fiat body I! to oscillate the doctor blade l6, and comprises an arm 34 fixedly mounted on an extended end of one of the elements of the trunnion 26. This arm 34 has a slot 34 in its end. This slot engages a circular cam disc 35 mounted upon one end of the printing cylinder I3. The cam disc 35 may be clearly seen in Fig. 2 to be a fiat disc arranged at an inclination, and it will be understood that as the disc is turned the trunnion element 26 will be oscillated. Of

* course, the oscillation includes the fiat body l1 and the doctor blade 6.

The bearings 210 are adapted to be horizontally adjusted. These bearings are slidably mounted upon brackets 21a, which in turn are fixedly mounted on the side members of the frame. Screws 31 threadedly engage through portions of the brackets 21a and rotatively connect with the bearings 210 so that when the screws are turned the bearings move horizontally forwards or rearwarcls. The screws 31 are provided with handles 31 by which they may be conveniently turned.

A hide carrying agent in the form of a web 46 is adapted for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and the printing drum, and to simultaneously protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder at spaces which are not covered by the hides. The web 40 is part of a roll 40a of sheet material mounted upon the front of the machine and connecting with a roll 46b mounted upon the back of the machine. The rolls 40a and 40b of sheet material are mounted upon shafts 4| and 42 respectively. These shafts have intermediate portions with cone-shaped members 43 thereon to facilitate holding the rolls.

The shafts 4| and 42 have reduced ends 4| and 42 respectively, which engage in bearings 44 mounted on the side members of the frame. The shaft 4| is adapted to be restrained or braked to prevent the material from the rolls unwinding too rapidly and is also equipped to be adjusted to obtain true unwinding. A gear 45 is mounted upon one end of the shaft 4| and meshes with a pinion 46 mounted upon a drum 41 of a brake which includes brake bands 48 controlled by an adjusting screw 49. Further details of the brake will not be given in this specification since it forms no part of the invention and brakes of this type are generally known. The screw 49 may be turned in one direction or the other to tighten or loosen the brake which restrains the roll 460. from unwinding too rapidly. The other end of the shaft 4|, which is supported by the bearing 44 is adjustable in a horizontal direction. The bearing 44 is adjustably mounted on a bracket 50 mounted on the side member of the frame. A screw 5| threadedly engages the bracket and rotatively engages the bearing so that the bearing may be adjusted horizontally.

A means is provided for driving and controlling the machine. This means consists of a pulley 52 freely rotative on a stud shaft 52a'rotative on the side member Illa. of the frame. A coupling is associated with the stud shaft 52a and the pulley 52 for coupling these parts together. This coupling comprises a screw 53 adjustably mounted on a member 54 adapted to engage a cone-shaped member 55 spliced on the stud shaft 52a to transmit rotations. The coneshaped member 55 has a grooved end 55' which is engaged by a lug 56 from a control handle 51. This control handle is pivotally mounted intermediate of its ends by a bolt 58 upon a support rod 59 mounted on the side member of the frame. The lever 51 may be pivoted from either end, that is, the front or the back of the machine to engage or disengage the clutch. A gear 60 is mounted upon the stud shaft 520, and meshes with a gear 6| rotatively supported on the side member Illa of the frame. This gear 6| is coaxially connected with a sprocket 62 and a pinion 63. The pinion 63 meshes with a large gear 64 fixed on the end of the printing drum The sprocket 63 connects with a chain 65 which connects with another sprocket 66 also mounted on the side member Illa. of the frame. The sprocket 66 is fixed coaxially with a small gear 61 meshing with a gear 68 fixed upon the shaft 42. Thus, the shaft 42 is driven to Wind on the Web drawn off from the roll 40a. The far end of the printing drum H is equipped with a gear 6| meshing with a gear 60' on the far end of the printing drum I3.

The web '40 is arranged at an inclination relative to the printing cylinder and the printing drum so that a hide maybe placed thereon and be frictionally maintained in relative position and be passed through between the printing cylinder and the printing drum to be printed. In Fig. 1 a hide 10 is shown resting upon the web 40 and being drawn through the printing machine. A tensioningdevice is provided for smoothing out the hide. This device consists of a frame composed of several parallel bars 12a, 12b, which are supported at their ends upon side arms 13. This frame has a trunnion M, the elements of which rotatively engage in bearings 15 supported upon the side members of the frame. The web 40 is laced between the bars 12a, 12b and 120 as clearly indicated in Fig. 2.

The operation of the device is as follows:-

A prime mover is connected with the pulley 52. Rotations from the pulley 52 are transmitted to the printing drum I I and to the gear 6|, the gear 60', and the printing cylinder l3. The gear 60' meshes with the gear 6| so that the printing drum rotates simultaneously with the rotation of the printing cylinder. If it is desired, the gears 60 and GI may be friction gears, that is, their pitch diameter differing slightly from the diameter of the printing cylinder and the printing drum so that the peripheral speeds of the rotating printing cylinder and printing drum at the contacting areas are slightly different. This produces friction or pull on the material (the web) so that the design has a blur on it. If it is desired to print without the blur (producing a different pattern) it is merely necessary to have the gears 60' and BI of the correct size to produce non-friction rotation of the printing cylinder and the printing drum.

The rotations from the pulley 52 are transmitted to unwind the web 40 from the roll 40a and to wind this web on the roll 40b. The web 40 serves to protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder at areas not protected by the hide (see Fig. 1). Furthermore, the web 40 acts as a carrying agent for the hide to carry the hide between the printing cylinder and the printing drum. The printed hide will be discharged at the back of the machine. When the complete web has been wound upon the roll 40?). it is interchanged with the roll 40a. The gear 68 will then be in the position of the gear 45 and mesh with the small gear 46 of the braking device.

The cam 35 will oscillate the flat body l1 and the parts carried by the flat body. These parts include the doctor blade i6, and the end closures I8. Thus, the ink carried by the ink pan composed of the doctor blade and the end closures will be oscillated. The felt portions 24 will ride back and forth along smooth ends l3 of the printing cylinder. The ends l8 have extending portions l8 which may be used as handles for holding the ink control device when it is placed upon and removed from the machine. Since the arms 21 are carried by the blocks 2112:, these arms will move along with the oscillating motion previously described. The members 32 will merely slide along the portions I 3a of the printing cylinder.

The pressure between the doctor blade and the printing cylinder may be controlled by operation of the handles 3|. As the bushings 28 move up or down upon the screws 30, the doctor blade will tend to pivot about the trunnion 26. This controls the pressure against the printing cylinder.

-vention with some degree of particularity, I I

realize that in practice various alterations therein may bemade. I therefore reserve the right and privilege of changing the form of the details of construction or otherwise altering the arrangement of the correlated parts without departing from the spirit or the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by United States Letters Patent is:--

1. A method for printing whole hides with printers ink, etc., consisting in unwinding a web from a supply roll of web material and continuously passing said web between a printing drum and a printing cylinder and then re-winding said web on a receiving roll, and feeding hides upon the web to pass them through between the printing drum and the printing cylinderto be printed. '2. A method for printing whole hides with printers ink, etc., consisting in continuously passing a web from a large storage of web material between a printing drum and a printing cylinder and then re-storing said web, and feeding hides upon the web to pass them through between the printing drum and the printing cylinder to be printed.

3. A method for printing whole hides with printers ink, etc., consisting in unwinding a web from a supply roll of web material and continuously passing said web between a printing drum and a printing cylinder and then re-winding said web on a receiving roll, and feeding hides upon the web to pass them through between the printing drum and the printing cylinder to be printed, and simultaneously tensioning the hides and the web which approaches the printing drum and the printing cylinder so that the hides are flat when they pass through between the printing drum and printing cylinder.

4. A method for printing whole hides with printers ink, etc., consisting in unwinding a web from a supply roll of web material and continuously passing said web between a printing drum and a printing cylinder and then r-e-winding said web on a receiving roll, and feeding hides upon the web to pass them through between the printing drum and the printing cylinder to be printed, and said printing drum and printing cylinder being drivenv at slightly different speeds to produce a blurred printed design.

5. A leather printing and tipping machine for using printers ink, etc., comprising a frame, a printing drum mounted on said frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperating with the printing drum to print hides passed there-between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder, and 2. hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and drum and drawn from a stored supply and re-stored after passing between said printing drum and printing cylinder.

6. A leather printing and tipping machine for using printers ink, etc., comprising a frame, a. printing drum mounted on said frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperating with the printing drum to print hides passed there-between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder, and a hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and drum and drawn from a supply roll and after passing between said printing drum and printing cylinder wound upon a receiving roll, said printing cylinder may be engraved, milled, etc., for surface or intaglio printing.

7. A leather printing and tipping machine for using printers ink, etc., comprising a frame, a printing drum mounted on said frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperating with the printing drum to print hides passed there-between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder, and a hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and drum and adapted to protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder when no hide is between these parts, comprising a web of paper unwinding from a roll on one side of the device and winding upon a roll upon the other side.

8. A-leather printing and tipping machine for using printers ink, etc, comprising a frame, a printing drum mounted on said frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperating with the printing drum to print hides passed there-between, a controlled ink supply for'the printing cylinder, and a hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and drum and adapted to protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder when no hide is between these parts, comprising a web of paper unwinding from a roll on one side of the device and winding upon a roll upon the other side, and means for adjusting one of said rolls to control true winding and unwindmg.

9; A leather printing and tipping machine for using printers ink, etc., comprising a frame, a printing drum mounted on said frame, a printing cylinder adjustably mounted on said frame and cooperating with the printing drum toprint hides passe-d there-between, a controlled ink supply for the printing cylinder, and a hide carrying agent for carrying hides between the printing cylinder and drum and adapted to protect the printing drum from ink from the printing cylinder when no hide is between these parts, comprising a web of paper unwinding from a roll on one side of the device and winding upon a roll upon the other side, and means for adjusting one of said rolls to control the winding and unwinding, and means for tensioning the unwinding roll to prevent it from unwinding too rapidly.

' PAUL DORNBUSCH. 

